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It's still C-level stuff. It's not even the real Spider-Man/Peter Parker. So it doesn't even count.
The American Son storyline comes to a conclusion as father battles son in the war to settle the score.
Spidey’s been tortured and beaten to a pulp by Hawkeye (aka Bullseye) and Harry Osborn has learned the truth about Lily Hollister and their “child”. Fed up with his father’s power plays and backstabbing tactics, Harry dons the American Son armor and goes toe-to-toe with daddy. Meanwhile, Spider-Man does whatever he can to help his friend, even though he can barely stand. He’s watched Norman tear apart not only his own life but the life of his best friend Harry for too long and wants to end it all. But will he be able to do the deed when the opportunity presents itself.
As a whole, the American Son storyline has been solid. I absolutely love the way Peter and Harry’s friendship has been handled as well as the way Norman has been using his son as a means to an end. Menace/Lily Hollister has been an interesting character and welcome addition to the Spider-Man Universe.
And Norman Osborn has been one hell of an evil S.O.B. When written well, he’s a villain I love to hate and I love to hate the way he’s been written in this book.
Joe Kelly’s dialogue just doesn’t ring true with me. He has some good character moments and I like what he’s going for, but their voices just don’t ring true with me. It can be a chore to read.
Speaking of characters, those don’t always ring true either. I know the event took place a few issues back (though it was referenced in flashback in this one) but anybody who knows Wolverine knows that Logan would never advise Peter to kill Norman. Yes, he’s a dark character, but he’s not the type of guy who invites anyone to share that dark world he inhabits. If anything, he would advise Peter to not kill Norman – he’d want that job left to the anti-heroes like himself. To me, it’s an example of a writer altering the way a character has been portrayed just to service the story. Couldn’t you just have Peter make the decision on his own or come up with it after watching a Death Wish marathon?
And I didn’t really dig the art either. Not enough to make me spend any more time complaining about it; just not my cup of tea.
Cover art to AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #599 by Phil Jimenez
If you’ve been reading my reviews and columns, you know I’m not in love with Spider-Man lately. It isn’t a terrible book, but it simply isn’t up to the standard I think it should be. For my money, it’s been consistently at a C-level for a while now. It’s a passing grade, but when Nova and New Mutants outshine Marvel’s flagship character, something is very off at the House of Ideas.
As Jerry Orbach’s character says in Dirty Dancing, “When I’m wrong I say I’m wrong” … well, I won’t exactly say that I’m wrong but I will say that Amazing Spider-Man has been growing on me lately and I think that it’s moved up from a C-level to a B. A B-, actually, but that’s not bad. It isn’t as good as it could be and it isn’t even close to being as good as it should be, but it’s been worth my $2.99 (and it’s nice to see that it is still $2.99).
Has every issue been up to this level of quality? No. But this issue was a great payoff and taken as a whole, American Son has been satisfying. I’m actually kind of looking forward to picking up the next issue. However, I shouldn’t be “kind of looking forward to it” – I should be salivating at the prospect of another issue. Spider-Man deserves better.
It's still C-level stuff. It's not even the real Spider-Man/Peter Parker. So it doesn't even count.
Its very simple. The Wolverine and Spiderman conversation was there solely becuase Kelly wanted to make a poltical comment. It didn't matter that the charicters didn't work in the way he wanted to use them. He was going to politicize that scene and nothing was goign to get in his way. Who cares about 60 year old charicters when you can score a cheap poltical point, no matter how sophmoric it makes you look.
I could imagine Wolvering advising Peter to kill Norman.
But I really have no idea how it could be considered "political" in any way. Is that a reference to some comic that this portion of a conversation was lifted from?
Lister - Yeah. In the conversation, Spidey and Wolverine are talking about getting rid of Norman, and one of them makes the comment, "Remember, it took us 8 years to get the last guy out of office." *fist bump*
Lame cheap-shot political comment.
I have to say, I'm a little unhappy that the president is explicitly made to be Obama in the MU these days. I know a lot of old stories seem dated due to dialogue or clothing styles, but some of them stand up to time. Putting something that specifically dates it to a certain point like that... spoils it a little bit for me.
I don't buy it. Logan lives in a very dark and scary place - has for years. A hundred or so years, I guess. He knows full well what it's like to take a life and he knows the lasting reprecussions of that kind of act. He wouldn't just willy-nilly advise somebody to do it.
He especially would not advise his good friend Spider-Man to do it. If anything, Logan would admire Spidey for his decision to never take a life. Sure, he might insult him or tease him for being a boy scout, but if anything, Logan would give him a speech not too dissimilar to the one I wrote above and advise him not to do it. He might say "leave it to someone who can do the job" or something to that effect but... nope. I just don't buy it.
jsm1978:
Although I agree with the sentiment behind the fist bump, it was pretty lame. Totally with you on the specific dating thing. And I don't like cultural references that are too specific (one reason I oppose advertisements in the comic book's story line). But for years I have been seeing renderings of presidents in comics that alluded to who was in office at the time without being truly representational. That doesn't bother me. But I wouldn't like it if they looked too much like Obama, Clinton, Bush, et al.
yeah, but you have to remember all the things Spidey and Wolverine have been through, starting with their first team-up in Europe when Ned Leeds got his throat slit. And I am sure, knowing Wolverine and knowing his history, his view would be its better to put away one less gun pointed at your back. So I don't think it is such a character stretch.